Mick Liubinskas' Investment Thesis

Climate Salad founder Mick Liubinskas has spent more than 25 years obsessing over one thing: backing incredible people. From building one of Australia's first online business databases in 1998, to getting wiped out in the dot-com crash, to co-founding Pollenizer, Mick has built his career on a radical philosophy: be the cheerleader, not the lone wolf.

In this episode of Investment Thesis, Mick joins Kali to share why he no longer invests his own money directly, how a small check from a friend became the investment that shaped his entire career, and what it really takes to build a portfolio in climate tech when the playbook from SaaS no longer applies. They also dive deep into why climate tech has more singles and doubles than home runs and strikeouts, how blended finance breaks the traditional Angel to Seed to A then B then C model, and why his biggest edge is giving his money to better investors.

Mick also reflects on the tension between optimism and pragmatism, the humility required for deep-tech founders to step aside as CEO, and why no one should be building an investment thesis alone.